Product Details

• Actors: Daniel Neiden, Maureen McElheron, Marty Nelson, Emily Bindiger, Chris Hoffman
• Directors: Bill Plympton
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Video Group
• DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
• Run Time: 72 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00029NKT2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,750 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Bill Plympton's The Tune" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Only a handful of independent animators have ever attempted a feature-length film, and it's regrettable that Bill Plympton's first effort isn't more successful. His extremely limited style of animation--he uses about one-third fewer drawings than Saturday morning kidvid shows--worked for his short films, but it simply can't sustain an audience's interest for more than an hour. The limits of the visuals might be less noticeable if the story were more interesting. Del, an aspiring songwriter, needs to come up with a hit in a hurry, so he can marry Didi, a secretary at Mega Music. He visits the weird town of Flooby Nooby where he hears people singing various songs--which he takes and passes off as own. At times, Plympton seems to be trying for the upbeat tone of the old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musicals, but those films about "amateurs" relied on very talented professional performers and songwriters. The songs in The Tune range from amateurish pastiches to utter doggerel. Watching The Tune is only slightly more entertaining than spending 69 minutes in a sensory deprivation tank. --Charles Solomon

Product Description

TUNE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable toon with ridiculous tunes, March 27, 2000

By 

Michael Sean (Seattle, WA - US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tune (DVD)

Celebrated cartoonist Bill Plympton's first feature film is a surreal musical fantasy with some inspired animation. He financed it entirely by himself, raising extra money by doing work for a few television commercials (see "Plymptoons: Complete Works" on DVD). He also released early portions of the film as shorts to help generate funds ("Dig My Do" in 1990, "Push Comes To Shove" and "The Wiseman" in 1991), even winning the 1991 Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for "Push Comes To Shove." Working again with Maureen McElheron (she scored his 1988 Oscar-nominated short "Your Face"), Plympton pieces together the story of a songwriter who, after receiving a 47-minute deadline to deliver a hit song or get fired, finds himself lost in the town of Flooby Nooby. Through the course of ten musical numbers (touching on various popular music genres) and some outstanding animation sequences, he learns to pen songs from the heart rather than by the book. This film is classic Plympton, but the light-hearted theme and often silly songs contrast greatly with the bizarre sex and violence of his second feature-length film "I Married A Strange Person."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clever and Funny, January 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tune (DVD)

If you like humor that is just a bit off-beat and bizarre, you will probably enjoy this film. It's classic Plympton, but the songs are good and there are actually a few clever insights about people mixed in, if you need intellectually redeeming qualities. I would not put much stock in the Charles Solomon review, which to my way of thinking missed every point in the film. For example, the hero does not go around listening to "people singing various songs--which he takes and passes off as own." Rather, he talks to people, and hears songs in the way they speak and act. Sort of a comment on the artistic process, I suppose. But mostly the movie is just funny. The animation is sort of like Monty Python animation, in that it is very simple, a bit twisted, funny and full of surprises. I watch this film over and over, each time wondering what make Plympton think of this stuff.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and distinctive animated musical, December 25, 2001

By 

K. G. Anderson "K. G. Anderson" (SEATTLE, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tune (DVD)

I was astonished to read ...(this website's) in-house review trashing The Tune. It's one of the most innovative animated musical films of all time. I saw in the early 90s and couldn't get it out of my mind. Finally purchased the soundtrack a few years ago, and it's one of my favorites, with tunes rooted in a dozen genres, from surfer music and rural blues to slick Vegas show tunes, Sondheim-type musings, and commercial country--about the only thing The Tune skips is opera! Bill Plympton's jittery animation works perfectly.